SOUTHWEST ANGLER

Follow by Email

Monday, September 12, 2016

Took a weekend trip to Missoula to fish a few of the many rivers of the area. This time of the year you can wade fish almost all of the rivers. The creeks in Missoula are bigger than most rivers I am used to fishing. Standing in the Blackfoot river swinging a fly rod sure feels much more intense than the rivers I am more accustomed to fishing. Not a huge float fisherman, but the Blackfoot is on my bucket List for 2017 to float.

A few scenery pics.....

Mainly caught Rainbow & Cutbow the fish were hard fighting acrobatic leapers. Most have caught 15+ per day ( that's not including the Whitefish I caught) most fish were between 15& 17". Plenty of Bull trout chasing them to the net.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Spent the weekend camping at some high elevation lakes. This area of Utah is becoming one of my favorite places to fish and just enjoy the weekend. Not an easy place to reach, but that makes it all the more interesting. I have yet to see another human in these parts. A good map, polaris razor and a chain saw can get you up to some great locations.

A view of one of the lakes!

The fishing was great! Especially in the afternoons, caught plenty of nice sized fish!

Below is a huge Bonneville cutthroat I managed to catch on the 1st cast of the day.

Caught several more in the 12 to 15" range.

Also some nice brook trout in these lakes.

Hopefully on labor day weekend I can explore a few more blue spots on the map.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Was able to make it out of the heat for the weekend, to fish one of my favorite rivers. The past few years the river was not fishable due to bad weather (chocolate water). This trip; I fished the same river for 3 days, the water was clear and the fishing was awesome!

Some views of the river! Great looking water & scenery!

This river has Yellowstone Cutthroat, Rainbow, Cutbow, And Brown trout. There is not to many rivers you can catch this many species in one river, not to mention the size of the fish!

Yellowstone Cutthroat:

Brown Trout:

Rainbows & Cutbows:

These fish are hard fighting and very fun to have on the end of a fly line! I caught about 15 fish per day that was over 16 inches. Great fishing great times! The Snake river is next in the next couple of weeks!

Monday, May 30, 2016

Two weeks ago we had to turn back after 4 miles of driving due to high snowdrifts, mud and finally gave up after getting stuck for an hour.. Fast forward 2 weeks and the snow drifts were gone, still some muddy bogs that required a heavy foot to navigate. Driving anywhere on this mountain is not easy, it took 1hr 20mins to drive 7.5 miles. But the reward was lakes all to ourselves and we didn't see a single person all weekend!

This area of the mountain has some beautiful lakes and many different species of trout to catch. The catch is you need to do your research to figure out how to navigate to them.

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Attempted to make it up to a high altitude lake. Unfortunately it will be a couple more weeks before the road is passable. Had about 1 mile to go out of 8 and the snow drifts were just to much for the truck! After 30mins working to get unstuck, it was time to head down to the valley.

The stream was blown out and off color. But it was a great day to be outside!

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Made it out for a couple of days to enjoy the excellent weather in southern Utah. It has been a few months since, I have had a fly rod in my hand!

There was a lake at 8500 feet that I hiked up to; but unfortunately it was still 90% covered with ice. But after a 3 hour hike to the lake, I did some exploring and ran into another small lake that was positioned better to thaw. The great thing about fishing a lake you have no information on is you have no idea what type of fish you may catch.

A couple of fish from the lake...

A view from the top of the mountain before the hike down.

Some drone pictures of the valley I camped in, the weather was perfect!